Superfund Research Program

Controlled Trial in Pregnancy of Dietary Supplements for the Suppression of Bone Resorption and Mobilization of Lead into Plasma

Project Leader: Howard Hu
Grant Number: P42ES005947
Funding Period: 1995 - 2006

Project-Specific Links

Final Progress Reports

Year:   2005  1999 

In 2005, Dr. Hu’s team published the pilot case-control study of bone, blood, and semen levels in men in relation to male infertility using methods his group piloted in this project.  The researchers continued work analyzing maternal lead (Pb) compartmental dynamics in a prospective study of lead levels in breast milk, showing that dietary calcium supplementation increased the rate of decline in breast milk lead by 5-10 percent, in comparison to placebo.  Dr. Hu’s group also analyzed repeated measures of whole blood and plasma lead levels during each trimester of pregnancy to document increased plasma lead levels for a given whole blood lead value as pregnancy advances for whole blood lead levels greater than 110 micrograms/L. 

Finally, Dr. Hu used pilot data to develop new biostatistics methods related to measurement error and to develop innovative applications of structural equation models to our complex biological marker data.  He also submitted a paper demonstrating that plasma lead levels during gestation were independently predictive of the Bayley Scales of Mental Development scores of the progeny by age 2 years.